Writing, a Sale, and a Fun Website

Wow...what a title!  However, I wanted to share three things with you.  First, here is a fun Christmas writing activity that we just completed yesterday.  First, we reviewed statements, questions, and exclamations.  I passed out the planning page {click here to download} and we began to write our first statement about Christmas.  I discussed adjectives and how they make our sentences more interesting. Students tried to think of an adjective to add to their sentence, then they revised their first sentence.  We did this one more time with a statement and then once with a question and once with an exclamation.  We tried to squeeze this into one day, but I will definitely spread this out next year. 

The following day, I passed out a 12x12 piece of white construction paper and two 12x2 strips of red or green.

After the students glued on their strips, they used their planning page to write their two statements about Christmas in the first two boxes, their question in the third and their exclamation in the fourth.  I let them decorate their "ribbon" and place a bow in the middle.

Very simple and can be modified in numerous ways.

On to topic #2 from the title.  I'm having a 20% off sale at Teacher's Notebook.

Every item in my Teacher's Notebook store will be 20% off until next Saturday.  If you haven't had a chance to pick up my December Fluency Packet or my Christmas Activity Packet, this may be a good time.

And topic #3... an awesome website for your own children.

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/home

This website allows your child to get a special message from Santa.  You upload their picture and put in some personalized things (favorite color, toy they want, favorite food, ...) and Santa gives them a message.  We did this last year with our oldest, who was three at the time.  Her eyes were as big as saucers and she would just shake her head and talk back to Santa.  It looks SO real!!!!  Amazing! 

Hope you have a great and productive weekend.